Peter
Walker

Peter Walker was born on 7 October 1912 in Huby, Yorkshire. His racing career began in 1935, after he teamed up with Peter Whitehead. Before the Second World War he drove Whitehead's ERAs in circuit racing and hillclimbs, winning at Brooklands and Donington Park. He returned to the sport after the war and finished 11th in the 1948 British Grand Prix at Silverstone in an ERA B-type.

Walker started four Formula One World Championship races. At the first round of the championship, the 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, he shared an ERA with Tony Rolt, and the car retired with gearbox trouble. In 1951 he drove a BRM Type 15 in the British Grand Prix and finished seventh. He did not drive the BRM again. He returned in 1955. At the Dutch Grand Prix he retired from Stirling Moss's Maserati 250F with a mechanical problem. At the British Grand Prix at Aintree he again shared a car with Rolt, a works Connaught Type B. A throttle failure ended its race after 19 of 90 laps, and it proved to be his final World Championship race.

Walker also raced sports cars. In 1949 he finished second in the Jaguar XK120's debut race at Silverstone, and he won there a year later. In 1951 he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Whitehead in a Jaguar C-Type. The same year he took second place behind Moss in the Tourist Trophy at Dundrod. In 1955 he won the Goodwood Nine Hours for Aston Martin, sharing the car with Dennis Poore. A crash at Le Mans in 1956 largely brought his racing career to an end. Peter Walker died on 1 March 1984 in Newtown, Worcestershire.

Source: Wikipedia, “Peter Walker (racing driver)”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.